Within the next two weeks, Milton McGregor said he will announce the official reopening date of his VictoryLand Casino in Macon County, Alabama. Once the largest casino in the state, VictoryLand shut down in 2010 following a raid by the office of state Attorney General Luther Strange, who said it offered illegal electronic bingo machines. But Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge William Shashy, appointed by the Alabama Supreme Court, twice ruled in favor of the casino, leading McGregor to work toward its reopening.
“It’s taken quite a while to get here, but we’re here. There are all kinds of other things these intellectually dishonest people have done to try to hurt Macon County and to try to hurt VictoryLand, to try to hurt me. But none of it’s worked. It’s caused us some heartburn and a good bit of money, but we’ve been victorious because we’ve been right,” McGregor said.
Macon County lost 2,300 jobs—a $30 million payroll–due to VictoryLand’s closing. McGregor said Macon County unemployment soared, and many former employees needed government assistance. “Every one of these people that we paid insurance for, when they lost their jobs, they had no insurance. They went straight to the emergency room then. It forced people onto Medicaid. It forced them on food stamps and all that stuff where before, they weren’t looking for a handout, they had a job. They didn’t need to look for help from the state or the federal government,” he said.
McGregor said VictoryLand already has received more than 4,000 applications for 2,000 positions. He stated he will provide benefits for employees as soon as the business can afford it.
Also, according to documents, between its opening and September 30, 2015, the property has paid $319,897,495 total in taxes, including $6,316,169 in city, county and state sales taxes which benefited the Education Trust Fund; $6,546,372 in ad valorem taxes; and $44,866,261 in parimutuel taxes. McGregor said VictoryLand revenue helped secure bonds to build Booker T. Washington High School in Tuskegee. “We were the highest utility tax payer in the county, the highest ad valorem taxpayer in the county, the highest occupational taxpayer in the county and the largest employer,” he said, adding the casino also supported 60-plus charities.
